SEAFORD, DE – Every year nearly one in five Medicare patients discharged from the hospital is readmitted within 30 days. Peninsula Home Care at Nanticoke is taking steps to reduce the rate of readmissions by working closely with hospitals to improve discharge planning and providing quality transitional care for individuals to continue recovering in the home. Medication management is at the core of advanced discharge planning and transitional care.

“It is critical for the patient to understand the benefits and be committed to their plan of care, including prescribed therapy,” said Beverly White, Delaware Branch Director for Peninsula Home Care at Nanticoke. “Our team does an incredible job of educating and motivating patients to comply with their treatment programs.”

Medication adherence can be improved by changing the patient’s perception of cost, concerns and benefits in addition to responding to behavioral factors such as the perceived burden of taking medication, concern about side effects and failure to understand why the medication is necessary.

Medication nonadherence is divided into four major categories.

Primary: When a patient does not fill an initial prescription.

Secondary: When a patient does not fill a prescription on time.

Unintentional: When a patient forgets to take medication or is careless in some way as to miss a scheduled dose.

Intentional: A decision to not take the medication. This may be the most important aspect of nonadherence that needs to be addressed – up to 80% of nonadherence may be intentional.

Care Takes Collaboration

Physicians play an important role in improving medication adherence but simply can’t do it alone. Support and collaboration is necessary from all members of a multidisciplinary health care team including home care nurses, case managers, clinicians and caregivers. These team members can help increase the number of touchpoints for patients, offering repeated checks as they move through their plan of care.

“One of the most important members of this team is the patient themselves,” said Nancy Bagwell, area director of operations, Peninsula Home Care. “Patient engagement and education is necessary for the individual to manage their disease or condition and understand the important role medication has during recovery.”

About Peninsula Home Care at Nanticoke

Providing care for more than 30 years to more than 39,000 patients on Delmarva, Peninsula Home Care at Nanticoke in Seaford, Delaware ensures that all patients are involved in their plan of care and strives to give them every opportunity to maintain their independence in the home. In 2016, Peninsula Home Care at Nanticoke achieved the highest star rating (5 out of 5) in patient satisfaction survey results. In 2017 PHCN was designated as a Nanticoke Health Services preferred home care provider. For more information, visit www.peninsulahomecare.com.